Written contract supercedes verbal?

I live in a three bedroom duplex in which our third roomate moved out a few months ago but continued to pay rent. In the time he was gone, we searched for another roomate but it was difficult due to the small size of the third room, most people that came to look at the apartment were immediately turned off by it. The lease, a fixed 9 month lease, is due to terminate at the end of August. Having given up our search and realizing there was little time left, we turned our search towards finding a new apartment by the beginning of the month. We gave written notice with our rent check for August that we would not be renewing our lease.

The landlord today, wrote us a letter claiming that we were asked to give two months notice before leaving, and that they will need us to pay September's rent as well. Now, I do not remember agreeing to this, however, in the Lease, it stipulates that a two month notice is required for the termination of a month to month tenancy, but a fixed-term lease "will automatically terminate on the end date (August 31) unless both parties agree to renewal of the lease prior to the end date."

Now I don't remember verbally agreeing to giving two months notice before the lease was up, but even if I did, doesn't the written contract supercede any verbal contract if they are in contradiction?

Re: Written contract supercedes verbal?

From my perspective the landlord is reaching. The written lease should rule unless there is some other significant event that changes the terms, e.g. another deal superceded this one. If the landlord wants to assert that there was another deal then he must convince the court that there was one and it doesn't seem likely.

Originally posted by FunkyMunk I live in a three bedroom duplex in which our third roomate moved out a few months ago but continued to pay rent. In the time he was gone, we searched for another roomate but it was difficult due to the small size of the third room, most people that came to look at the apartment were immediately turned off by it. The lease, a fixed 9 month lease, is due to terminate at the end of August. Having given up our search and realizing there was little time left, we turned our search towards finding a new apartment by the beginning of the month. We gave written notice with our rent check for August that we would not be renewing our lease.

The landlord today, wrote us a letter claiming that we were asked to give two months notice before leaving, and that they will need us to pay September's rent as well. Now, I do not remember agreeing to this, however, in the Lease, it stipulates that a two month notice is required for the termination of a month to month tenancy, but a fixed-term lease "will automatically terminate on the end date (August 31) unless both parties agree to renewal of the lease prior to the end date."

Now I don't remember verbally agreeing to giving two months notice before the lease was up, but even if I did, doesn't the written contract supercede any verbal contract if they are in contradiction?

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